Small Pieces
by KellerTur
Summary: Short fragments of conversations between Remus & Sirius, and Remus & Tonks. Drabbles within the walls at Grimmauld Place. Set from the beginning of OoTP. Later vignettes may have more colourful language. Alcohol/smoking references. RL/NT.
1. Reunion

"Is this everything?" Sirius asks. A single case in Remus's arms, leather flaking and corner disintegrating. It already matches the interior design, Sirius muses.

"I try to travel light these days." Remus answers, ears turning pink.

"It's good to see you again Moony."

"You too Padfoot. I just wish it was under better circumstances."

Sirius exhales, "There's not many of those knocking about these days," extinguishing his cigarette.


	2. Relations

"Was I right in overhearing you two are related?" Remus inquires, hands deep in his pockets.

"It seems so. I'd never met him before though, before tonight." Tonks answers awkwardly, stage fright in the dim candlelight.

"Lucky you," he smiles. She gladly returns it.

"But I wouldn't recognise him these days. Freedom suits him well." She eyes the dilapidation, realising her word choice too late.

"I should've guessed you were related. You look somewhat alike."

"I look somewhat alike to everybody." She laughs, mostly at his confused expression.


	3. Remembrance

After a deep draught, Sirius lowers his wine glass, looking his last friend so sombre after all these years. "I never had the chance to ask you before. How was the funeral?"

After a moment, Remus answers; Deflecting, fiddling with the chair's threadbare arm. "Quiet. It was raining."

Sirius knows they shouldn't drink when they're like this, but it's easier than being sober. And the nights seem so long without it. "I'm sorry I wasn't there Remus."

Remus turns back to the fire, staring at the dying embers. "I'm sorry you weren't there too."


	4. Request

"Are you staying for dinner Nymphadora?" Remus asks her, hands full of cutlery.

Tonks turns with a smile on her lips. "Not when you call me that, Remus."

"Forgive me, I think it's a charming name. Will you stay for dinner Tonks?" He thinks how strange it sounds this time, the casual tone misplaced.

Her face bunches. "I can't. Prior arrangement."

Remus looks down, replaces one knife and fork. "Ah, I see. Well goodnight, Tonks."

She leaves, and under the streetlamps outside, she mulls over her charming name.


	5. Riddance

Remus sits nursing his tea in front of the newspaper, Sirius is burning his fingers on the toast. "Do you remember when I used to play that guitar Remus?" he asks over his shoulder.

"In the loosest sense of playing, yes I do remember," Remus answers, not looking up from the crossword.

Sirius finds a jar of jam, but thinks better of it as he looks inside at the mould. "Well I found the tuning keys in the fireplace yesterday. Looks like my mother burnt it after I left."

"Well at least music is safe for the time being," Remus mutters to himself, his pen lid in his mouth as his fills in his 8-across.


	6. Sanctuary

Remus finds Tonks finding sanctuary upstairs. The carpets emit dust under his footsteps. "I'm sorry for Sirius, he's a little delicate at the moment."

"Understatement of the decade, that," she scoffs.

He takes a spot on the sofa arm. "He's been through a lot. We have to cut him some slack."

"It's okay. It's just he seems a bit, you know, cagey." She moves up the sofa, but he doesn't understand why.

"Well," reasons Remus, biting his lip, "it may be because he's not had his walk today."

A small giggle escapes down the stairs and echoes in the hallway.


	7. Signs

As the meeting closes, Sirius surveys everyone huddled together, and mutters to Remus, "She's pushing her luck with him, I think." Tonks is in the corner, whispering in Bill's ear. Her hair looks more like lilac in the dim.

Confused, Remus answers, "Don't you think it's the other way around?"

"Well, of course you would say that," says Sirius nonchalantly, opening a beer off the side of the kitchen table. It leaves a sharp gouge in the light wood.

Remus narrowly avoids the bubbles, but is for some reason still annoyed. "I think you're barking up the wrong tree, Padfoot."


	8. Silhouette

The lamps aren't lit, but the fire is still crackling in the grate. Remus spots an silhouette on the Chesterfield.

"Tonks, you've fallen asleep." His voice is so soft now, as he crouches down next to her.

Her eyes don't open, but still she smiles. "Thanks, I was aware of that."

"Don't you want to go home?" He asks gently, but she's already turning over, leaving only a tuft of pink.

"No, I just want to be stay here and be warm," Tonks murmurs into the leather. Her eyes are still shut as Remus crosses over to throw another log into the fireplace.


	9. Secrets

"What is going on with you these days?" Sirius asks, as if they're in the middle of a conversation.

"What do you mean?" Remus frowns, focusing on his parchment.

Sirius flicks through the newspaper, doodling on Fudge's face. "I think that you know exactly that I mean."

"I'm thinking I don't know what you're talking about Sirius," Remus replies, crossing his T a little too vigorously.

"You're still shit at lying Moony," Sirius reflects, balling up Fudge's face and tossing into the empty hearth. "But then again, you were always better at keeping secrets."


	10. Suggestions

"Christmas?" guesses Tonks. Remus is opposite, enjoying the game, while Sirius sulks by the pantry.

"Not particularly," he reasons, raising his mug. Her face is twinkling. He catches Sirius staring at them from the shadows.

Tonks thinks a moment, then asks rather coy, "Valentines Day?"

Definitely not," laughs Remus. It's becoming one her favourite pastimes of late, she considers, making him smile. With a gleeful look, Tonks guesses again.

"Halloween?" She asks, but realises too late. His grin falters, while Sirius slams the pantry door shut with a bang.


	11. Trapped

"I need to get out of this house," Sirius paces, kindling the carpet beneath him. Outside, the sparrows are boasting of freedom.

"You can't," Remus answers calmly.

"No, you didn't hear me," insists Sirius, clawing at his hair, "I _need_ to get out of this house."

"Padfoot-" But he's interrupted by Kreacher pushing past him into the room, muttering obscenities under his breath. The sight freezes Sirius in his routine.

Walburga's portrait drowns out the birds with screams. Sirius collapses onto a chair, hiding behind his hands. "How the fuck did it come to _this_?"


	12. Truth

"So, you and Bill used to date?" Remus says, trying so hard to sound casual. He's not sure why he's asking. It's like wiggling a loose tooth.

"If you could call it that. We were only kids," she cringes. Tonks worries about the picture she'd painting of herself.

"So, what happened?" Remus asks, knowing he's overstepping, being too personal, but he can't hold his tongue. His breath waivers waiting for the avoidance and deflection, the disgust and the revulsion. But instead, a miracle. She smiles.

With a half shrug, she looks up to him, and says simply, "Nothing, I think we just grew up."


	13. Time

Sirius finds his first grey hair in the tarnished kitchen mirror, and asks, "Do you ever think of us when we were young, Remus?"

"What? In prison, or destitute?" Remus lightly answers, leaning on the kitchen sink.

Sirius turns away as if injured, his voice bitter. "Bloody hell, not like that."

"Sorry old friend, I meant nothing by it," Remus mutters, returning his eyes to his coffee. These talks of the past seem to be becoming a regular occurrence. Sirius looks back into the mirror, contemplating their reflections through the grime.


	14. Trance

The light from the streetlamps glows through the gap in the drapes. Remus hears the door open and close quietly.

"Tonks, what are you doing?" he whispers. Her hair is a little luminescent in the low light, she seems almost ethereal.

"Can I sleep in here with you tonight?" She doesn't wait for answer, and slips easily into his bed. He can feel her eyelashes fluttering on the pillow.

Remus hears his voice catch in his throat, "Why?"

"I just want to be warm." She breathes, curling up in a ball just out of his reach.


	15. Tipple

"You've changed since school, Moony." Sirius is in a very different mood today, smirking through his stubble.

"Is that so?" Remus says, watching with an ill ease as Sirius pours his hip flask into a cup of coffee.

Radiating smugness, Sirius grins, "Beyond a doubt."

"How have I changed?" Remus asks, glancing at the clock, which is not yet even showing noon.

"It's just the Remus Lupin I knew," replies Sirius easily, stirring the concoction loudly with his spoon, "Never let any girls spend the night in his bed."


	16. Lament

"Does it hurt? You know, when you..." Tonks is hovering by the door frame, watching him pack. She's oddly childlike, knitting her fingers together with trepidation.

Remus straightens, hesitates on a lie, but settles for the truth. "Yes."

"I'm sorry," she blurts, the words falling out before she can stop them. She starts picking at the peeling paint absent-mindedly.

He gives her a smile, something that comes so easy these days. "You don't need to be sorry."

"I know I don't need to be, but I still am," she says quickly, paint under her fingernails. The words hang in the air for a moment, before she retreats back down the hall.


	17. Lacking

"You're always welcome to the attic." Under the pretense of tidying, Sirius is buried in the side cabinets, sniffing out any forgotten bottles.

"That's a bad idea," says Remus, fastening his coat. He hears a derisive snort from the cavity.

"You're not as ferocious as you think these days," echoes Sirius from among the piping, and for second Remus considers a well-placed kick is in order.

"I can't stay here. It wouldn't be safe."

"Moony," says Sirius incredulously, craning his head around, spiderwebs in his hair, "there's a bloody hippogriff in my mother's suite."


	18. Lasting

"Merry Christmas Remus," Tonks calls softly down the hall. She's followed him up to the door, away from the festivities. She's been imbibing dutch courage, and biding her time.

They're in almost darkness, but Remus can still see the tinsel sparkling in her hair. "Merry Christmas Nymphadora."

"I wanted to give you something," she murmurs, hurrying forward before he can slip out into the night. But her hands are empty.

"What?" He whispers, but she's already so close, on her tip toes. He can taste the mulled wine on her breath, as she leans in and meets his lips.


	19. Liquor

"We should do Christmas here every year," says Sirius, dumping decorations into boxes. The house stands empty again, but the long nights are here to stay.

"The mulled wine was my favourite," says Remus quietly, mostly to himself. He had told no one of his gift, for it was his, and he was always very careful with what was his.

"I think Tonks would agree, she was absolutely sloshed," cackles Sirius, distangling pine garland from around his neck.

Remus smiles weakly in reply, an oily feeling in his stomach, beginning it's slow pollution. "It appears so."


	20. Lintel

They meet on the doorstep, or as Remus considers, _The scene of the crime_. Each has a hand on the doorknob, one entering and one leaving. Remus clears his throat, "Ah, Tonks. Good to see you."

"Is it 'Tonks' again?" She says, nose wrinkled. Her cheeks are blazing, standing proud in the winter wind.

"I thought you hated your first name?" He asks, as her eyes flicker up to the lintel. Remus can feel his palm slipping on the metal handle.

She chuckles as she softly grazes past him and disappears into the gloom. She replies before he closes the door, "It's growing on me."


	21. Blot

"Have a drink with me, Moony," says Sirius enthusiastically, as Remus moves to cover his goblet with his hand. Thoroughly ignoring this, Sirius pours anyway.

"What are we celebrating?" asks Remus, shaking his hand dry, dotting his newspaper with red splodges. An idle Tuesday hardly seemed worthy of a toast, never mind a stain on his only good shirt.

Sirius considers it for a moment, before reasoning, "Well, we didn't die in our sleep."

"Ever the optimist," says Remus dryly, raising his glass but not drinking. Sirius drains his own glass in one, wine running down his chin.


	22. Baccy

Tonks picks idly the edge of the crinkled packet Sirius had discarded hours before. "So, you never picked up the habit?"

Remus looks up quickly from his book, but avoids her eyes. He fumbles on his answer, wondering if it'll make her uncomfortable. "Too expensive an addiction for me."

"I see," laughs Tonks, opening the fold and spilling loose tobacco on the table, "you were the sensible one, were you?"

"Something like that," grimaces Remus, nipping the conversation in it's bud. He returns to his page, well-worn and disintegrating from many years of overuse.


	23. Bound

Taking one of the photos from the box, Remus eyes the torn edge. "Why is this ripped?"

Sirius grumbles a reply through the cigarette between his teeth, "I don't need reminders." He plucks the picture from Remus's hands.

"I wish you hadn't," Remus laments, "I don't have the originals anymore."

Sirius looks up from the photo album, knocking ash onto the picture of the teenagers in red. "Why not?"

"I gave them to Harry," he murmurs. Glancing down at the three faces who'd survived the damage, or Sirius's vandalism at least, he sees they were still laughing.


	24. Breathe

Remus glances around the door, but she's still by the fire. He frowns, "Not going out tonight?"

"No, I wanted to stay in," she smiles, fiddling with the hearth rug.

He takes in the depressing surroundings with raised eyebrows. "Well, that's a sorry state of affairs." Tonks gives a snort of mirth.

"Are you staying here tonight?" She asks, and although it seems innocent, a sudden image comes to his mind in answer; his room upstairs, his warm bed in the dark, the thought of her wrapped in his sheets...

"I can't," Remus mutters, leaving her alone without further word. It's colder in the hall, but a lot easier to breathe.


	25. Bullseye

Sirius doesn't even glance up as the door opens, too immersed in his work. "You missed the meeting."

"Yes," replies Remus with a small wince, "it's quite difficult to reschedule a full moon."

After a moment of folding paper, Sirius adds, "Darling Tonks was asking after you."

"How kind." Remus recoils at the frost in his voice, turning to the kettle to avoid a glare he's certain he's getting.

"Yeah, she has this stupid idea that you're avoiding her," says Sirius, throwing his paper plane and meeting his mark on Remus's temple.


	26. Nearly

As she wipes her boots on the threshold, Remus plasters on a platonic smile. Clearing his throat, he calls, "Nearly late again."

Tonks jumps at his voice and beams unabashed. "Remus!"

He doesn't know why her customary hug surprises him this time. It's so close, her coat buttons dig into his chest. A strand of pink hair tickles his cheek, and for one stupid second, he wonders if he could kiss her.

Remus pulls away abruptly, distancing himself as the confusion clouds her face. Sirius barks that they're beginning, and he turns to swallow his guilt in the dark stairway.


	27. Newspaper

"It's pissing it down again," says Sirius with a damp shake of the head, a habit that had unfortunately stuck around.

With not a single sentence read, Remus lowers the barricade of newspaper for first time since the meeting ended. "They've left already?"

"Apparently people have lives outside of this house," Sirius retorts, flinging what looked like a drowned bat onto the kitchen table. "Who knew."

"What's that?"

"Tonks forgot her umbrella, but she didn't seem to care," he shrugs, collapsing into a chair with an outstretched hand reaching for the nearest goblet. Remus regards the raindrops slowly pooling on the scrubbed wood, adding yet another stain.


	28. Never Cross

With arms laden with books and a quill in his mouth, Tonks nearly runs into him on the staircase. A foolish muggle superstition comes to his mind.

The stair gives an ominous creak when she avoids his eyes and says bluntly, "I'm sorry for sleeping in your bed all those times."

"Oh." He pauses, wishing he didn't look so idiotic in the moment. He waits for the punchline, but it doesn't come.

"I'll not do it again," she sniffs, brushing past Remus in her hurry down the stairs, not looking back as she leaves through the front door.


	29. Nobody

The stink of urine and meat floods his head as he makes his way across the room. Sidestepping rat skeletons and a hippogriff, Remus finds a chair buried in the debris. "Has anyone visited recently?"

With a grunt, Sirius looks up from the bottom of the wall, as if he slid down several hours ago and didn't even notice. "Nobody's been here in weeks."

"Right," says Remus, knowing it's anything but that. As he lowers onto the chair covered in bundled cloth, a sickening crunch enimates from it's folds.

"Mind the skulls," says Sirius flatly.


	30. Nails

With the promise of a pint with Bill and Kingsley, she's almost past him when he manages to murmur, "Do you have a moment?"

"Sure," Tonks says, her face telling another story as her smile dies on her lips. Stepping beneath the gaslamp, she awkwardly bites the skin around her nail.

"I wanted to say," he says, craning his neck to try and look at her in the light, "whatever it is that I've done, please forgive me."

Tonks gives a small shake of the head, pink strands clouding her eyes. "There's nothing to forgive. It was my mistake," she grimaces in embarrassment, shuffling hastily backwards and out of the lamplight.


	31. Gift

"I have something," Remus calls down the kitchen, hoping that the shadow by the fireplace is sober enough to hear, "that you're going to like."

Sirius doesn't turn until the footsteps stop right behind, but when he does a rush of coldness angers his face. "Is it strong enough to knock me out?"

Remus ponders a moment while he wrestles the magazine out from his cloak, smoothing out the cover and passing it over. "That's one way of saying it."

Sirius takes it in unsteady hands and offers a "Bloody hell" as thanks. Remus notices the hot fire behind his friend's eyes as he gazes down at Harry's face.


	32. Glint

The stem spiraling from his cup obscures her a little, but Remus holds it up in earnest. "Staying for a coffee?"

She glances up from shoving fistfuls of parchment into her uncooperative bag, which doesn't seem to appreciate her rush at all. "I best be getting home, to be honest."

"Okay," says Remus, trying to sound like nothing hinged on this offer, "perhaps another time."

Tonks pauses for only a moment at the doorway, giving him a weak smile which makes him feel a fool for even asking. "Yeah, maybe."


	33. Goosebumps

"Whatever happened to your midnight visits, anyway?" Asks Sirius with a waspish swipe at the smoke curling up from between his fingers.

After a few blinks, Remus recovers enough to give an answer. Rubbing his arms against the chill creeping through the open window, the goosebumps abate. "Not for a few months now. But it's all for the best."

Sirius's brows crease with confusion. "Oh?"

"It was just a misunderstanding."

Sirius stares at him for a few seconds through the haze before returning to his cigarette. "I don't think it was, Moony."


	34. Grimace

"Shit," Tonks catches sight of her watch as her wrist moves across the parchment. "Is that really the time?"

"Looks like it", yawns Remus, setting his inkwell aside. "I think I will call it a night." Their chairs scrape on the flagstones.

"I'll come up as well. To my room, obviously," she adds hastily, but she's said it and now they're both thinking it. Tonks's quill rolls off the table and clatters on the stone floor.

He's aware of the awkward smile he's making by the pain in his cheeks as he backs away until the doorknob hits him in the back. "Well, goodnight then."


End file.
